I Ran


	I looked at the digital clock ticking away next to the driver's
seat.  The other bus had just passed the stop I was to transfer to, and that
meant half an hour's wait for the next one, all because of another new and
'better' bus malfunctionning and not showing up.  I could wait at a later
stop and catch the bus early, which meant more time where it's warm, or I
could go now and hoof it home.  I stopped there.

	For some reason I started to run.  I had about 15 minutes left now
until the bus passed the transfer stop, so I decided to do the usual thing
I did in that case; walk along until it caught up with me.  But this time I
ran.

	I first told myself I'd run to the end of the road and down the
slope, but as I continued to jog I realized it could be a bit too far for
me; I hadn't exercised for a long while and I was in no way fit.  But still
I ran.  I found a good place to stop and take a breather, but by then the
slope had began and running became much faster, if not at all easier.  I
carried on.  It occured to me then and there that this was pure willpower;
not fitness, not exercise, just power of will, mind over body and telling
myself I'd make it down there.

	At the bottom, I took a breather at one of the bus stops and sat
down, retching and spitting up the accumulation of unfitness that had built
up during my run.  I took off my hat, sweating despite the stabbing cold.
After a short while, I stood back up and started to walk down the road
again, passing houses and two-bit shops.  After a minute or two I took
another pit stop to spit, sneeze and blow every last bit of mucus from my
head.  I felt sick to my stomach.  I took off my gloves and started to
power walk down the road.

	I passed a trio of kids walking along their bikes, stopping a bit at
every stop to look back and see if the bus was coming.

	I heard it rumble around the corner when I was just a few hundred
meters away from where I normally rode it.  I took off and ran like hell,
ran even harder than I had before.  I was going to beat that damn piece of
metal to the stop.  Thoughts of just stopping now and letting it pass me
came up often; hey, it'd still be a victory, I walked all this way.  But I
ran.  I ran and I ran and I leaped across the road and I swung around that
bus stop sign a few seconds before the bus did.  I looked back at it as it
slowed down a bit, testing to see if I was waiting for it; then it carried
on its route and was gone.  "Take this, you son of a bitch."  I shakily
started walking home.


	Alexandre van Chestein	(c)1999